Agency

Focus Multimedia, a Los Angeles-based interactive advertising agency that specializes in multicultural advertising, announced that it is changing its name to Sensis.

Building on last year’s groundbreaking and highly successful brand campaign that linked Suzuki’s rich motorcycle heritage to its automobiles, American Suzuki Motor Corp. launches a number of new television and print advertisements, highlighting the automaker’s expanded lineup of dynamic vehicles, bringing greater clarity to the company’s “Way of Life” brand philosophy and still illustrating the company’s motorcycle DNA.

Bud Light presents the hottest and largest Latino stand-up comedy series in New York City, the Batanga Mas Risas Comedy Series. This summer, the comedy series will showcase over 12 different Latino comedians at the top comedy venues in New York City, including Angelo Lozada, Mark Viera, Rich Ramirez, Sara Contreras, Mike Robles, Andrew Kennedy, Eric Nieves, Edgar Rivera, Rebecca Donohue, Gina Brillon, Herbie Quinonez and Angel Salazar.

I don’t think we have enough fun with email these days, so let’s take a break from all the issues with the channel and get inventive. Considering we are coming up to the busy holiday season, I figured a look at the top five functional reasons to communicate with your customers would be an appropriate theme.

For most of Hispanics who come to the Unites States, adapting to a different culture is one of their biggest challenges. Going to the supermarket, to a hospital or even driving to work, can be experiences that not only remind Hispanics that they are away from their home and love ones, but from their cultural idiosyncrasies as well. That’s why many who come to the United States looking for a brighter future for their families struggle between two worlds, and adaptation becomes the key for their survival. This is where Acculturation and Assimilation start as an ongoing process that, for many, will be a road of endless challenges.

In 1961, Nelia found herself seeking shelter in a third cousin’s Miami hotel where she ate canned food once a day so that her children could eat three times a day. She found herself dutifully cleaning houses to help feed her family. Within a month of her arrival in the United States, Nelia, along with her husband, two sons, and father-in-law packed up what little they had and moved from Miami to Belle Glade, Florida. It was in this sleepy sugar mill town that Nelia sat next to a window and cried every single day for six months while her suitcase lay next to her unpacked. In an interview that I conducted with Nelia, she relayed to me the story of her struggle in the United States and her initial assumption that she could return to her world of cotillions and leisure within months. The year is 2007 and Nelia is still living in the United States.

It seems natural to want to associate with people who are very similar to us. Our social group is usually made up of people in our same age group who tend to come from the same social and economic status as us. Although the inner workings of our personalities may slightly differ, the similarities that do exist are still enough to bond us.

The Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication released a paper by Holly McGavock with the collaboration of Dr. Felipe Korzenny. This paper shows how insights from popular Latin American and US Hispanic literature can inspire marketing and advertising. This is an important first effort at systematizing the link between popular culture and marketing to US Hispanics.

With the holiday season almost upon us, fully 15 per cent of the nation’s 40 million Hispanics — or six million people — likely will not be celebrating, this year.

Forty-Two Degrees at MediaVest (MV42°), a division of SMG Multicultural, has been named Hispanic media planning and buying agency of record for Continental Airlines, effective immediately.

The board of directors for the Latin Chamber of Commerce of U.S.A. (CAMACOL), named Terra Network’s Fernando Rodriguez as Executive of the Year. Rodriguez was recognized not only for his professional expertise and efforts, but also for the impact he has made on the economic development of the community.